Monday, September 12, 2011

Still Painting

My husband is actually happy when he comes home from work and gets to paint.
And I don't mean on a painting in his studio.
I mean painting the house.
He's still painting the house.
(when I say still, I mean in between having a full time job, four kids, building them a playhouse, taking care of his wife, making time for fun with his family, remodeling his studio and trying to make a little art here and there for himself.  so yeah.  he's still painting the house)



It all started with the front door.
He took off the ugly, hideous really, black security screen door, sanded off the peeling hunter green paint and painted the door a gorgeous shade of turquoise.
He spray painted the peep hole (or whatever you call that) and the mail slot.
He paid attention to detail.
He hung the door back up and we were in love.




And then began the quest for finding the right colors for the rest of the house to go with that front door.
We were in love with that turquoise.  We were not changing anything about that door.
Aaron tried swatch after swatch of green paint.




After a long while, we finally decided on the color scheme, and found the right green for the trim.
And Aaron has been painting after work and on the weekends ever since.
We're really starting to see progress now.




He finished the gable end last week.
Isn't is beautiful?




The neighbors were in great fear when they saw that turquoise door.
We heard things like, "that's a bold choice for a door."
Then all the swatches went up and everyone wanted to know what we were going with.
None of them liked our final decision.
There were awkward silences, conversations changed and pointed, "hmmmms."
But they see all the progress Aaron's making and considering how it looked before, they all seem pretty happy now.




Of course, they don't know about the diamonds yet.
That's right.
The diamonds.



We may not live in Palm Springs, but that doesn't mean we can't have a house inspired by it.
Our neighbors are going to love it!
Love from,
Greta

PS.  Aaron started working on the windows tonight after work.
He put on the first coat of orange.
I have been skeptical all along of the orange.
But I think I am a believer now.
It was too dark for pictures, but if I have time, I'll post some in the morning.

8 comments:

Laura said...

I love, love, love the colors! And I laughed out loud when I read diamonds! I can't wait to see them! You two have incredible taste!

hennymats said...

Ok, so I would never paint my door or house those colors - but I'd love to have a neighbor with that :)

Anonymous said...

LOVE all of your choices, always.
Can't wait to see.

mandi said...

Seems like our husbands are of a similar breed. That whole loving to paint and get things done, thing. That door makes me sooo happy! And I love the trim color. Do you have before pics?

We recently repainted our house. And by we I mean he. Our doors are teal and they make my heart smile.

http://herbanhomestead.blogspot.com/2011/03/house-reveal-finally.html

Tara Beaulieu said...

This is perfect, Greta! And orange too? A girl after my own heart. The whole inside of our house is white, green, turquoise and orange. :) My fall project is painting the outside. We're playing it a little safe by going with just green and white- but had we not just bought a beautiful wood door- I may just have had to paint the old one turquoise. :)

Melanie said...

I love your ideas, Greta (and Aaron's too.) I'm from the generation that was bound by earthtones and "french country." (Yes, I do love hunter green!) The things you buy at estate sales are the kinds of things my parents threw away. I would never dream of choosing the colors you choose, but I always love your results. You make me think in a new way, and that's good!

Unknown said...

love the colors. i wasn't sure about the green but it looks awesome! (i used one of your pictures on our blog, with a reference, hope that is ok!) -julia

1088churchill.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

haha, this is awesome! I've left one comment before (I love design blogs but never comment), and we could so be friends in real life! I have an early 70s home in Alaska which we are updating to mid-century mod-ish...hmm, oxymoron. MCM is rare up here, unfortunately, and I am very alone in my love for it. Well, thankfully my husband likes it too. All this to say- my house was a green *kind of* like what you've chosen, with a gold door/garage/trim. Last summer we painted the gold to an awesome peacock, and it looks so great with the green! Some neighbors were not too into it when we started, but now they all say they like it a lot more! And- this summer I painted our mailbox flamingo pink! Along with 2 adirondak chairs, and the other 4 I painted orange. It looks so nice! It will be neat to check in and see how your house turns out. All our projects take forever too; we have 4 young kids as well, and now a puppy. Thanks for sharing, I've appreciated a lot of what you write (your say yes post really hit home for me, and I linked to it on my fb and it resonated with several friends as well).

Cara